shim
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a thin packing strip or washer often used with a number of similar washers or strips to adjust a clearance for gears, etc
-
physics a thin strip of magnetic material, such as soft iron, used to adjust a magnetic field
verb
Etymology
Origin of shim
First recorded in 1715–25; origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Of all the work Schuermann did on the guitar — including steam and heat treatment of the bridge and adding a removable shim for stability — the neck reset was the biggest undertaking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2024
Often, the city’s answer is a temporary bevel and shim fix — either grinding down edges on cracked sidewalks or adding a small amount of asphalt to bridge the gaps.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2023
She works hard, one student offered: yeol shim hee.
From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2016
The rear of the box leaned against a wooden shim, held by an rusty screw, also now partially buried in the tree.
From Forbes ● Dec. 2, 2011
I lost a button and couldn’t spare a shim to buy a matching one.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
These poems might be shimmed into a syllabus or buried in a casketlike journal article, if they weren’t so punk-baroque and brat-belletristic.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 13, 2016
The more junior typesetters leaded and shimmed the classifieds and personals and all the other advertisements that filled the inside pages.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
“Like playing in the rain and getting shimmed on the deal?”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
I've held a riveter and driven spikes and shimmed up ties before now.
From Desert Conquest or, Precious Waters by Rowe, Clarence H. (Clarence Herbert)
To give the desired rate of decrease, the pole faces are shimmed with concentric steel rings of varying thickness, as shown in Fig. 4b.
From LRL Accelerators The 184-Inch Synchrocyclotron by Laboratory, Lawrence Radiation
Boeing said it found last week that the fitting used shimming - a material that fills gaps between the surfaces of an aircraft - that was improperly sized and did not meet specifications.
From Reuters ● Jun. 6, 2023
While Kardashian, 41, wore a shimming fringe coat with a silver dress and metallic boots, Davidson, 28, kept his look more casual with baggy jeans and a flannel shirt.
From Fox News ● Feb. 14, 2022
This makes it easy to place the cribbing with a minimum of shimming.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2022
It’s critical that these footings are perfectly level, with minimal shimming.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 6, 2022
Whether it was Lawrence or Livingston who first came up with shimming is unknown, for both would claim credit.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
